Hello, Lalalu here. It's been a while...

I just want to make one thing clear: Cagalli wasn't raped, you know Athrun saved her... It seems that there are many who have misread... Maybe I wasn't clear enough. Anyway now you know.

Thanks to everybody who has reviewed anonymously too, I really appreciate it.

Trying not to feel anything is so hard, just as the opposite is also true. Trying to find feelings you do not have is impossible.

That is the harsh reality.

The Storm is Coming

"Serious trouble, Cagalli's gone!" Heine said.

Athrun looked at Cagalli who was sitting in his kitchen eating breakfast and answered, "She's gone?"

"Yes, she was with Miri but Miri got into a fight with her ex and left the party. When Fllay went to look for her she couldn't find her. We've searched the whole house but she's definitely not here. Fllay is really worried, well we all are."

"Ok, she's gone, but why are you calling me?" Athrun said in an indifferent voice.

"Stop it, Athrun. I know you're not the greatest friends but this is serious. Don't you feel anything? She's been working with us half the term. Aren't you the least bit worried? I'm calling to ask if you have any ideas and if you can help us to search. You were there at the party, did you see anything?"

"…" Athrun didn't answer, or couldn't answer more accurately.

"Athrun?"

"…Alright, I get it. But first of all have you tried to call her?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course we have, Fllay has tried to call her constantly, but she's not answering. We're not that stupid."

"…" Athrun was thinking of how they were going to get out of this mess and eventually continued, "Ok, she doesn't answer her phone. Have you tried her house?"

"No, that's the problem, we don't actually know where she lives."

"…And you claim you're not stupid?" Athrun asked dryly but he was relieved, an unexpected opening had come his way.

"It can't be helped, can it? None of us have ever been to her house, and we tried to check up her address but her name wasn't there. Don't you think that's a little strange?"

It was a little strange. Come to think of it how much did he know about Cagalli? It was close to nothing, besides that she lived alone and that her mother too seemed to be no longer among the living.

"Well, then maybe there is an easy solution to the problem, I happen to know where she lives. The problem is how to get in, but maybe I can talk to the landlord…"

"Eh, you know where she lives?" Heine sounded very surprised.

"…Don't shout in my ear. Yes of course I know where she lives. Don't you think I'd check up on the whereabouts of someone who's doing work for the student council?"

"…Wow, Athrun, you're even better than I thought."

"It's only the obvious thing to do, what if I had work on my hands that I needed her to do? If I don't know how to contact her, I might get stuck doing the work myself."

"Wicked as always Athrun…"

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"I'm sure you will" Heine shuckled a little.

"Anyway, I'll head over there right now. I'll call if anything happens, and make sure that you do too."

"Ok, I just hope that everything is alright."

"I'd say don't worry. Probably she got drunk yesterday and decided to go home and forgot to tell anyone."

"It has happened before."

"Yeah, anyway I'll call you when I get there."

"Ok, bye."

"Bye."

Athrun finally hung up and made a deep sigh, what a mess. Cagalli who had stopped eating looked at him questioningly and asked, "What was that about?"

"…Cagalli, I think you'd better check your phone. It seems that they are pretty worried 'cause that you left the party yesterday without telling anyone."

Cagalli paled and ran from the kitchen to the hall to pick up her purse and check her mobile. There were too many unanswered calls, most of them from Fllay. But she knew that under that tough surface Fllay was a person who worried a lot about other people if she cared about them, so in reality it wasn't something to be surprised about. Cagalli hesitated a little if she would dare to check her messages, Fllay would probably use quite harsh words.

Suddenly the phone rang and it was from Fllay, now she was even more nervous. Fllay would probably be pretty upset to notice she had been worried for nothing, relieved of course, but also angry. Certainly she had every right to be angry, but yesterday had been so crazy and Cagalli still hadn't recovered from the shock. Sure she tried to look normal to Athrun but honestly she still felt shook up even though she felt relieved that Athrun hadn't pushed her away. If he didn't think she was disgusting it felt a little easier to bear. She took a deep breath and was about to push the "yes"-button when Athrun who had followed her stopped her, "Wait, don't answer that." he said as he approached her.

"Why? I have to talk to Fllay and I might as well do it now."

"We have to think this through first. I said to Heine that I would go to your house and see if you are there right now, we can't let them suspect that you might be here."

"I don't wanna go home…" Cagalli looked at him pleadingly and for some reason it felt very hard for him go against her when she looked like that.

"…Don't worry, you don't have to. We'll solve this somehow." He said to calm her down, what was this feeling of wanting to protect her? But then again the person she most of all needed protection from was possibly he himself, he thought sarcastically.

"So how do we do this?" she asked and he slowly started to form a plan, he didn't know if it was any good but it would have to do since Cagalli didn't want to return home and well, he didn't feel like returning her either.

"I'm heading out, I think it's best that I at least pretend I'm going over to your flat."

"You're leaving? I don't want to be alone…" Cagalli almost looked like she was going to cry but even so there was no other way.

"It's only to pretend… Don't you think Heine will think it's strange if I'm not outside when he calls me?"

"Yes but still… I don't feel like being alone right now…"

Athrun sighed, "It can't be helped can it? If you don't want to this to end right now you'll have to stop being so selfish." He said somewhat cruelly, but it couldn't be helped, time was running out.

"If you put it like that I'll guess I'll have to…" Cagalli nodded weakly.

"Don't worry I'll be back as soon as I can. Besides, this is my house, I'll have to come back won't I?" He said more kindly and stroke her cheek a softly with his hand and kissed it.

This was the Athrun she had come to love so much, and it made her feel a lot better. Strengthened she nodded to him now with a serious look on her face. To Athrun that looked so cute that he had a great urge to hug her, but he knew that if he did he wouldn't know how to stop and there definitely wasn't time for that right now, but if everything went well when he came back…

"Good, when I've left call Fllay and explain what happened last night, that you got too drunk and took a taxi home and forgot to tell anyone. "For you, it shouldn't be a problem, you've been lying to everyone from the beginning…" he felt like adding but didn't. It wouldn't serve any purpose and it wasn't his business.

"Anyway, it's what actually happened, you're just leaving out a few details…" He continued.

"A few details, hmph." Cagalli snorted sarcastically in way that was very unlike her, at least what he thought was unlike her with the newfound reality that he didn't knew her at all.

"Can I trust you with that?" He asked to be sure.

"Yes I'll call Fllay, don't worry I'll take care of her." Cagalli said and there was a hint of coolness in her voice.

"Good, I'll head off now. I expect that Heine will call when you've called Fllay, I'll try to deal with him somehow and then I'll come back here." Athrun said and placed another kiss on her cheek before he left.

She looked at her mobile and took a deep sigh and called Fllay, the faster this was done the better.

Just as predicted Fllay had been furious and it had been very hard to calm her down, and Cagalli felt very guilty when she had to lie to her especially because she could hear the angry voice mix with held back sobs of relief. Fllay wanted to come over and see her but somehow she managed to avoid that with a further lies that were coming naturally without hesitations from her mouth. It was such an easy thing to do, fool other people. But in her in her heart it was painful and it was much more difficult to chase that pain away, but when she was with Athrun even that went away.

She talked to Kira too, Fllay had called him too and he had been so worried that he seriously tried to go out searching for her even though he was down with the flu with 40 º C fever but luckily his mom had stopped him. Because Kira was so ill it was much easer to deal with him, he didn't have the energy to make any questions, he was just relieved that she was ok. Again it felt a little bad to be relieved when Kira's condition was so bad, but she eased that feeling by promising herself that she would go and see him when he was a little better.

After a short while Athrun came back, somehow they narrowly had escaped.

I

Really she didn't want to leave Athrun's house, all of a sudden she felt afraid of being outside among people, strangers she couldn't trust. But Athrun had dragged her out, somehow it must have been his way to comfort her, it was true he was clumsy when came to relate to other people but she still could notice his effort and inside it felt like something was warming up. She knew it would be a mistake to depend on him too much because she couldn't be sure how long his support would be there. But right now, it felt it would be impossible for her to leave his side.

As they walked along the pavement she held on to his arm tightly, when she looked at him he looked back at her with a kind smile. It was a new side of him, he had never smiled at her like that before and it almost felt like she fell in love anew.

During the winter break they were together like that the whole time, it was like they were making up for the time they had lost fighting the weeks before. During that time, she looked at him often, almost like studying him. The cold winter wind tousled that dark blue hair when he wasn't wearing his woollen cap, his rosy cheeks from the cold that made him look cute almost childish, his smile, his kind eyes, his teasing eyes, the faces he made out of pleasure when they made love. Coming so close to another person, was happiness. Eventually emotions grew so strong it felt she would explode if she didn't express them.

One night, when they lay in his bed as usual still panting and a little sweaty, she took courage and said what she knew she had to say. If you loved someone this much it was impossible not to say it, even if it would turn out her love wasn't returned it was something she just had to do. Trying not to love someone didn't work, not that she wanted anymore. She raised her head and looked down at him seriously, he noticed her gaze and looked back at her questioningly.

"Athrun, there is something that I have to say. You don't have to answer or anything, but I just have to say this… I- I love you." She said a little hurriedly and buried her face against his neck. It was warm and his hair tickled her a little, and more than anything she breathed in the smell of him. It was the sweetest smell, because it was a sign of him and she loved him more than anything. It didn't matter if he didn't love her, because it wouldn't change her feelings, she would love enough for both of them. But she still hoped for an answer and when it didn't come it felt like she felt like something cold grabbed her, for a short moment, but she shook it away. She had said that she didn't needed an answer and now she couldn't just take it back because she wasn't satisfied. What she wanted to give him was unconditional love, she knew that he needed it. Athrun needed love so she couldn't just take it away just because he didn't do what she wanted or hoped for. She hugged him tighter to reassure him that she didn't mind that she wouldn't go anywhere and perhaps a way of stopping him from going away from her, it was the only thing she could do right now.

I

The first day of the new term, and Cagalli walked through those school gates for the first time in two weeks. But as she walked down the corridor she got a weird feeling that people were looking at her but when she looked back they turned away.

When she entered the class room she felt how the attention of everyone in the class was directed at her, she tried to pretend like it was nothing and walked to her desk as usual.

"Cagalli, what is this?" Fllay said and looked at her suspiciously.

"What are you talking about?" Cagalli asked back as she sat down on her chair and started to pick up her notebook and pen.

"Here I come back from my ski vacation and what do I find? That there are rumours going around about you!"

"Rumours? About me?" Cagalli looked up surprised.

"Fllay take it easy, it's only a rumour. There's no way it can be true anyway." Miriallia said.

"I know it's only a rumour and I don't believe it's true either but Cagalli has the right to know hasn't she? It's about her."

"Yeah that's true…" Miriallia agreed.

"Come on tell me, what is it?" Cagalli was getting impatient.

"Well yeah, you see there is a rumour about you…"

"Yeah I heard that, what's it about?"

"Well if you let me finish I might be able to tell you!" Fllay answered a little irritated.

"Oh sorry, continue."

"Anyway people are saying that you're together with Athrun Zala!" Fllay continued in a loud whisper.

"It's only a rumour, you shouldn't let it get to you." Miriallia said trying to smooth over the shock when she saw Cagalli's expression.

Cagalli felt how something cold grabbed hold of her squeezing her chest making it hard to breathe. Panic came over her and her first instinct was flee from everything, to run from the classroom, from the school. From the looks she had gotten this morning she understood that the whole school must know by now. In fact she was probably one of the last to know. But if she let panic take control everything would be lost so she forced herself to calm down.

"W- why?" her voice shook a little, she hoped they wouldn't notice.

"Apparently someone claim they saw you walking hand in hand during the winter holidays."

"They did?" Cagalli asked a little too loud.

"Yeah, at least that's what they claim they did… Wait Cagalli… you're acting strange. Don't tell me there is any truth in it, 'cause there isn't is there?" Fllay said eyeing Cagalli suspiciously.

"Of course it isn't true, what do you think! I hate that guy and you know that, I was just thinking how much trouble this'll mean. I had enough problems with the Kira fan-girls and don't want to get into more trouble than I've already have."

"There will probably be trouble…" Miriallia said laying a hand on Cagalli's shoulder trying to comfort her, "But Fllay and I will always be behind you. If something happens tell us."

"Yeah, you can count on us, if there are any bitches harassing you I'll give them a piece of my mind you can be sure of that." Fllay smiled but a black aura surrounded her sinking the atmosphere in the room to freezing point.

Cagalli on the other hand felt her heart warm up and how tears almost started to fill her eyes by her friend's kindness, it was mixed with a feeling of guilt but she pressed that away. Right now she was just thankful.

"Thanks, it really means a lot to me."

"Ahem, can you please be quiet, the lesson has begun." The teacher reproached them. They apologised and quickly turn their faces to the front of the classroom. The first lesson of the new term began.

I

When Athrun came to school he was already prepared. The reason for that was a conversation he had had with Kira a few days before, Kira had called him and they had agreed to meet at a café they were often at. When he arrived Kira was already there, Athrun ordered a cup of coffee and seated himself. At first they talked about the usual stuff but after a while Athrun became aware that Kira seemed like he wanted to say something, something that apparently was hard to say. He looked at Kira but didn't ask what it was, he just waited absentmindedly thinking about what it could be. A few things came to mind and Cagalli was first on that list, it was a feeling he had that he couldn't shake free of. Of course that was the thing he feared the most and therefore he was very sensitive to anything concerning it. And eventually it came: Awkwardly Kira said that he had heard a rumour that he and Cagalli were sleeping together. Thankfully Athrun didn't loose his composure and not only managed to make Kira believe that there was no truth in such a story but also make him feel guilty about doubting Athrun. In other words it went well.

There still was the problem with the rumour going around but there was nothing he could do about it, and he figured the best thing to do was to deal with it like he did with all rumours: ignore it.

Why he hadn't said anything to Cagalli he didn't know. But he couldn't seem to find the right opportunity or maybe it was just an excuse. It wasn't something he wanted to talk about, it was more something he wanted to forget. He realised it wasn't very fair to her but it was too late to do anything about it now.

I

When school was over, he headed to the student council and there the atmosphere was, tense. He felt everybody's questioning eyes but he pretended not to notice and seated himself at his end of the table. It was unusually quiet. Usually Yzak would at yell something when Athrun came but now he didn't say anything but looked very uncomfortable. Even Heine and Dearka kept quiet, especially Dearka who looked like he had received his death sentence. To Athrun who hadn't met him since the party two weeks ago it looked strange, it couldn't have anything to do with Cagalli and him. Not that he cared that much but he asked anyway, at least it would break this uncomfortable silence, "What's with Dearka?"

"You don't know?" Heine asked in return.

"If I knew would I be asking?" Athrun replied.

"I didn't know you cared about these kinds of things." Heine said and Athrun was about to protest but Heine continued, "You missed the big event on Dearka's party, beside Cagalli-cutie's disappearance of course."

The mentioning of Cagalli seemed make the atmosphere in room even tenser for a moment until it was lifted a little by Athrun who urged Heine to continue without pretending to notice, "So, what happened?"

"You know I said that Miri had a fight with her ex when we talked on the phone?"

"I have a small recollection of that, yeah." Athrun nodded, it made sense, if Dearka was depressed about something odds were that it was about Miriallia.

"Anyway, Dearka here decided to interrupt them and thus became the object of Miss Haww's infernal wrath."

"So, how's that any different from every other time?" Athrun asked.

"You see this time, Dearka snapped and talked back. He said he wouldn't bother her anymore."

"Not a day too late…"

"Hmm, yeah but apparently our good friend has a change of heart and regrets the whole thing."

"I never thought I'd agree with Athrun but this time it wasn't a day too late. Dearka! Get over it and get on with your life! You've been like this for two weeks now and you're driving me crazy!" Yzak surprised everyone by joining the conversation.

"Be nice to Dearka, Yzak. He's going through a difficult time right now." Nicol tried to cover for Dearka who didn't seem to respond.

"I understand that too, but he's been moping too long! Mirialla has never accepted him so this couldn't be such a shock."

"Be a little more understanding…"

"Can we stop talking about me? Yeah, I'll be fine. Of course I'll get through this but right now just let me be depressed… If anything I don't want to be told to get over it by you guys who know absolutely nothing about how I feel right now. A player who never gets serious with anyone and a coward who couldn't even ask out the girl he liked without help. You've never been rejected so you can just shut the hell up. And what the hell, Athrun here doesn't care shit about anything, you even screw C-…"

"Ok, ok let's take it easy now alright? Dearka, even if you're frustrated let's not say unnecessary things." Heine interrupted Dearka, "Rumours are rumours and you should know better than to take them seriously, don't you agree? Athrun." He continued looking straight at Athrun.

Athrun wasn't about to loose his composure over something like this so he kept his cool face. "If you rather believe rumours than me, go ahead, I couldn't care less." He said in but in an icy voice which threatened anyone who might dare to bring the subject any further.

I

Of course Athrun avoided Cagalli at school, especially now when they were rumoured about. But when he noticed Cagalli in the corridors he quietly observed what she was doing, maybe glanced in her direction but most of all he listened. What she talked about and who she was talking to. Today she was joking around with the guys in her class, they were teasing her and she was talking back and apparently they didn't notice that he was there. "Ahh, I'm disappointed. I guess Cagalli is like all other girls in end." One of them said.

"Hey, you sound like you didn't see me as a girl before! Well excuse me for disappoint you: I am a girl!"

"Hahaha, that so like Cagalli. No one else would interpret it like that. Hehehe, you're too much."

"We're talking about Zala, you couldn't resist his charms: looking like a girl and treat you like shit. I don't know why, but for some reason chicks can't seem to get enough of that."

"Yeah, we thought you were different but I guess not. Maybe it's a hormone-thing, if you're female you can't resist Athrun Zala?"

"Shut up! You're just talking trash, who's said I'm with Athrun Zala? You guys gossip more than a group of old ladies. Let me make one thing clear: I'm not together with Zala. I can't stand him, to me he is just someone who forces me to do work for the student council. If you want to know what I think you're just jealous because you have no chance what so ever with me. In fact, I rather date Zala, at least he's not ugly." Cagalli said sounding just as amused as the guys.

"You're saying that girly Zala is better lookin' than me? If you'd give me a chance I'd show you what a real guy should be."

"The only place that would ever happen is you dreams, so you can just keep on dreaming."

"Ouch…" the made a face and the other guys laughed at him and he started laughing too.

"You're funny, Yura." He said when Fllay and Miriallia made their appearance.

"Hey, you boys aren't picking on Cagalli I hope." Fllay said smiling with a smile that wasn't a smile at all.

"We're just joking around, right?" he said looking a little nervously at Cagalli.

"It's all right Fllay, I can handle myself. They didn't mean any harm anyway." Cagalli said to calm Fllay down.

"If you say so… anyway let's go Cagalli, the lesson will begin any minute now." Fllay said suspiciously.

That conversation stuck in Athrun's mind all day, he didn't care the least about those guys badmouthing him: he was used to it and anyway he didn't care about their petty opinions. What bothered him was Cagalli, what was hard to stomach was her talking and laughing with other guys and on top of it all about that subject. It sounded like she was flirting. And somehow hearing her say that she wasn't together with him and that she couldn't stand him made it hurt a little inside. He knew that he was being unreasonable and that he was saying the same things to those annoying girls that wouldn't leave him alone. But still he felt betrayed, even though it was selfish. How great it would be if he could say to everyone that Cagalli was his, then he could just have walked up and interrupt that conversation and bring Cagalli with him away from those bastards. But that was impossible, if he did that his friendship with Kira would be over.

I

After the student council meeting Athrun had to go to the copying room and reached it he noticed that somebody was already there, Cagalli. Remembering the irritation he had felt all day he decided that it was time to make Cagalli take responsibility for it. Even though he knew it was risky and a stupid thing to do, he couldn't stop himself.

Cagalli had been asked by the coach to make copies of the schedule for the upcoming indoor matches this winter to the whole team. And therefore she was in the copying room, in school seven o'clock which irritated her greatly. Why hadn't the coach made these copies before, and why did she have to do it, is what she had wanted to ask but had thought the better of it, she didn't want any trouble.

Suddenly she felt two strong arms hugging her from behind squeezing… her breasts!

"Aaaah, what are you doing?"

"So you're not together with Athrun Zala, I hear." He said in a suggestive voice, totally ignoring Cagalli's question.

"Well it's true isn't it? …nn… Besides… we decided that we were… ah!... going to keep what we're doing a secret. Ah…can you stop doing that?"

"Why?"

"Why? For one thing this is the copying room in our school! Think a little more about time and place!"

"But that's no fun… If I did that I wouldn't get to see your cute reactions would I?"

"What am I, your pet?"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't do this to a pet…"

"Hentai."

"Only when it comes to you."

"Only when it comes to you…" when Cagalli heard that she felt how her heart started beating faster, how she wished that was true. She wanted to believe it and she felt how her mood was lifted and she stopped resisting and turned around to kiss him.

I

Kira was looking for Athrun but when he stopped by the student council Athrun had already left. By the only who was left in the room, Yzak, he was informed in an irritated way that Athrun had gone to the copying room. So Kira went in that direction too hoping to find him, he thought he would ask if Athrun would want to hang out tonight. He had a feeling that it was a long time since he and Athrun really did something together. The last time they met was more like an interrogation, and he felt guilty that in the first time he called Athrun in weeks was ask something like that.

If it was a mistake or not, is left to say but certainly everything changed. Possibly it was out of necessity, probably it would have happened in some other way if it didn't happen then, but he realised that Athrun had lied to him.

Kira staggered away, he felt nauseous. He couldn't think he just wanted to get out of there. He didn't know what was worse, the betrayal or the fact that Athrun and Cagalli had an affair. He grabbed his things from his locker and walked to the main entrance, there someone he knew or more accurate knew of, stood.

"Lacus… Lacus Clyne?" Kira could hardly believe his eyes. Why was Lacus Clyne here in this school?

The long pink haired girl looked at him smiling and her smile widened when she recognised who he was, "You must be Kira Yamato, Athrun's friend?" Athrun, the name he least of all wanted to hear right now.

"Yeah…" Kira answered suddenly feeling extremely tired.

"Are you quite alright? You don't look very well." Lacus said now looking at him with concern.

"Yes, I'm fine, it's just that I'm a little tired. I'm on my way home so…" Kira tried to end the conversation, he didn't have the energy for this right now. Too much was on his mind.

"Then I won't bother you any longer and get right to the point. I wonder if you would know where Athrun might be? I haven't announced that I was coming but I thought it would be a nice opportunity to see him when I'm here anyway."

"Sorry, I haven't seen him." Kira immediately said.

"I see, that's too bad. It's been very long since we met. It cannot be helped I guess… Well then, I thank you for your trouble, I'm terribly sorry to have inconvenienced you." Lacus Clyne said and smiled sweetly at him.

"Oh. Eh, me too, sorry for not being of any help." Kira, felt a little guilty but also confused by the presence of her, this idol, Lacus Clyne.

"Not at all, you have been very helpful I hope I will see you again soon, Mr. Yamato."

"Good bye Miss Clyne." Kira excused himself and hurriedly left the school.

When he came home he ran upstairs immediately and threw himself on his bed. He desperately tried to think on what to do now. What was it that he really wanted? Right now more than being angry at Athrun (even though he was furious) he felt frustrated, he felt like the chance he might have had with Cagalli was slipping out of his hands. Suddenly he got off from his bed and with determent fingers he grabbed his mobile and called Cagalli.

"Hello?" He heard Cagalli's voice at the other end.

"Cagalli? It's Kira." He tried to keep his voice from tremble.

"Kira? What's up?"

"I'll get straight to the point, I wonder if you could come by my house?"

"…what now?"

"Yes, now." He said in a serious tone.

"…I don't know, I'm kind of busy right now…." Cagalli answered hesitantly.

"It's really important that you come." Kira pressed on.

"…I get it, I'll come in an hour."

"Great, see you in an hour."

"Bye."

Cagalli hung up. Kira threw himself at the bed again and looked absentmindedly at the ceiling. She was probably with Athrun right now, who knew what they were doing. The picture of them making out remained tormenting him, and from his perspective it looked like there were pretty used to it. Kira bit his tongue in frustration. It was all Athrun's fault! He was definitely fooling Cagalli. He felt angry at himself too that he had been so slow. He should have made a move much sooner, then he could have protect her from Athrun and everyone else.

He lay there thinking about everything that had happened, time passed and when he heard the door bell he ran down the stairs as fast as he could.

"I'll get it!" he shouted to his mom and opened the door. There was Cagalli, she looked cute like she always did, innocent. Looking at her now made him even more stressed, he had to do something.

"Hi, Kira." Cagalli smiled at him but she looked at him a little questioningly, which wasn't strange of course. He had never called her like this before.

He caught his breath and answered, "Hi Cagalli thanks for coming on such short notice."

"Of course, I'll come, if you ask me. But what is it that's so important?"

"I'd rather not stand here talking, can we go up to my room?"

"Yeah, of course." Cagalli took off her shoes and jacket and followed Kira up to his room, of course not without saying hello to Kira's mom. But Kira seemed to be impatient so that went quickly.

In Kira's room Cagalli sat down on a chair and asked again, "Now you'll have to tell me, what's so important that it couldn't wait 'til tomorrow."

Kira sat down too but soon got up again and started to walk nervously back and forth.

Suddenly he seemed to have made up his mind and he stopped and looked at her seriously and opened his mouth and asked her, "What I want to know is what's going on between you and Athrun."

Cagalli froze for an instant but slowly opened her mouth, "There's nothing going on with Zala."

"Don't lie, it's not about some rumour, I saw you!" Kira started to raise his voice.

Cagalli paled but managed to stutter, "Y- you saw us?"

"Yeah, that's right! I saw you two making out in school!"

Cagalli almost sighed, as if she was giving up. "Kira… I didn't mean to keep it secret from you…"

"So it's true, you're together with Athrun?"

"…well, I don't know if we're exactly together."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"…it's not so easily defined I think…" Cagalli tried to find the right words, she was confused on her relation with Athrun herself so how could she explain to somebody else?

"That's bullshit! You know I blame myself, I should have warned you. And I should have been clearer with my own feelings."

"Kira?" Cagalli looked at him surprised, she didn't understand what he was talking about and he started to feel a little scary. He was like a different person, usually Kira was so calm and nice. She had a feeling that she didn't want to hear the continuing of his words.

"I want you to stop seeing Athrun."

"Wha-!" The situation started to feel more and more surreal to Cagalli, what was this?

"Even though Athrun may be good as a friend, or at least that what I thought, he is a player. He never gets serious with anyone, if you stay with him you'll only get hurt. I don't want you to be hurt."

"I don't see how you got any right to tell me what to do or not, what ever happens between Athrun and me is our business." Cagalli was getting really irritated.

"Cagalli! Why don't you listen to me, he'll hurt you!"

"What about you! You're supposed to be Athrun's friend but you talk about him like this behind his back!"

"I thought we were friends but apparently that only meant something to me."

"That's just not true, I don't know what he's said to you, but I know you're really important to him, I'm sure of it!"

"He's a liar, Cagalli, and that's the truth. You can't trust a liar."

"I thought you'd understand, since you're his friend! But you are just like everybody else!"

"You're blind Cagalli, you refuse to see the truth. Why did you keep it a secret? That was Athrun's idea wasn't it?" Kira stopped and look at her waiting for an answer.

"…" Cagalli on the other hand couldn't answer, there were so many reasons. It was true that it Athrun's idea to keep their relation a secret but until recently she too had thought it was a good idea, until recently that is.

Kira took the silence as a "yes" and continued, "What make you believe Athrun so much? What has he ever done for you? Do you really believe he loves you? Has he ever said that he loves you?"

"…" Again Cagalli couldn't answer, Athrun had never said that he loved her, she really had wanted for him to say those three words but he never had, not even when she had. But what he had done for her? There was a different meaning to why it was hard to answer that, simply there was too much. Now, it was hard to think what she would have done without him.

"The truth he doesn't love you, Cagalli. He's just playing you, I've seen it before."

"Shut up!"

"You're just denying it Cagalli…" suddenly he sounded kind like the ordinary Kira again, but Cagalli looked away. She couldn't accept the meaning of his words, a mild tone of voice couldn't change that. When she didn't answer, he didn't say anything and the room became silent. Cagalli started thinking about getting out of there, going to Athrun to get confirmation, to learn from him that what Kira said wasn't true at all. She knew that Athrun would never put those things into words, but there were other things that mattered. Things that were hard to point out but they were still there. They were real, and it didn't matter what anybody else said, not Kira, not anyone else.

"I'm out of here, as far as I'm concerned this conversation is over. I don't want to talk about this ever again. I respect your opinion as a friend, I really do, but this is none of your business. See you." Cagalli said and was about to leave when Kira grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

"Kira?" Cagalli became uneasy because of Kira's sudden movement. Kira had behaved strange the whole time she had been here and since that party and the thing that happened there she was generally a lot more on alert than before.

"Cagalli, I…" Kira was trying to find the right words, how should he put this to get his feelings through?

Cagalli had a feeling she didn't want to hear what he had to say so she tried to pull her hand out but Kira put more force into his grip and she couldn't get away.

"Let me go right now!" Cagalli really started freaking out.

"Listen to me first: I love you. Leave Athrun and be with me instead…"

"I don't want to hear this, I don't want to hear this! Let me go!" this was the worst scenario, she could never see Kira as anything other than a friend and as that she really treasured him. But this threatened to ruin all that, she had to get out of there.

"Cagalli!" Kira suddenly grabbed her shoulders and kissed her. She was shocked, for a period which felt like forever she couldn't move. When he slowly removed his lips from hers she became able to think properly.

Smack! She slapped him in the face, with tears running down her cheeks she screamed, "I can't believe you! So low! Don't touch me ever again!" She ran down the stairs and quickly grabbed her jacket and ran out the house, to Athrun.

Left in the room was Kira alone, regretting what he just had done. He had pressured her, he had even kissed her without her permission. He had been too stressed. But even if he regretted that he was still furious. Everything was Athrun's fault. Athrun had lied to him, if he hadn't everything would have continued as normal. And Cagalli totally sided with Athrun, who knows with what lies he had fooled her with.

Full of those feelings Kira ignored his mom's knocks on the door to his room and went to bed trying to sleep. He didn't call Athrun because he figured that Cagalli might be there but tomorrow he would seek him up and say what he had on his mind. Athrun…